Catching Claude
by MariNisharo
Summary: After the whole deal with Pain, everyone goes on standby to reconstruct and rebuild. Two years after Konoha begins to rebuild, a girl and her best friend, accompanied by a snooty feline, enter the world of Naruto. Two years later, they are known throughout the land. Part one of A Cat, a Wolf and a Puppeteer. Cross-posted on Ao3.


Extended Summary: After the whole deal with Pain, everyone goes on standby to reconstruct and rebuild. Two years after Konoha begins to rebuild, a girl and her best friend, accompanied by a snooty feline, enter the world of Naruto. Two years later, they are known throughout the land.

This is the story of Esther, known by many names, as she tries to find her place in the world after everything she and her best friend worked so hard to accomplish comes crashing down on her. Follow her as she redeems herself, makes new friends, works to restore her former glory, dabbles in romance, commits acts of tomfoolery, and tries to find her best friend.

A/N: This is my first Naruto story, so hopefully it is worthwhile to read. I have this cross-posted under the same username on Ao3. The version on there is unrated and totally uncut, so it may be a little more graphic. Please also consider looking into that. Thank you~

[Disclaimer]: To cover all chapters of this series, I do not own Naruto or any canon characters, places or plot points. I do want to claim ownership over any original characters, places or plot points that are my own.

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Chapter One: Their New World

My name is Esther. Esther Louise Adams to be precise. My story began like most others. I was young-seventeen years old-and already signing up to go to a university near my home. I got a scholarship from the music department. Apparently good drummers were hard to find these days.

The only downside to this whole university business was my best friend. His name was Claude Montgomery Adams. Now I know what you're thinking, but we aren't related. He just happened to have the same last name as I did.

Claude was moving. He was going nearly out of country-at one point he would be out of country to get there. Goodbye ole desert of California, and hello frigid coast of Alaska.

I was upset at first, because I would be losing my best friend, but I got over it quickly, realizing that I was just being selfish. I was ready to accept the small hug I would give him at the airport until my phone rang out, playing "You're My Best Friend," by Queen.

"Esther! What are you doing right now? Like right now!"

His happy and excited yelling blaring in my ear was at least a good sign that he didn't mind leaving too much either.

"What am I doing right now? Like right, right now? I'm pulling some 'bull off the shelf, and now I'm walking to the chip aisle. Is there anything you needed me to bring to your house?"

I waited for him to answer. By the sounds of crashing and cursing on the other end of the line, I'd guessed he was in the midst of looking for something in that landfill he calls a room.

"I need you to come over as soon as you can. Bring that folder with all the digital art that had to do with the characters I wanted you to draw."

"Is there some reason I need to do it right now, Clau-"

"Esther, just hurry!"

"Fine, but you're coming shopping with me tomorrow to make up for the fact that I'm leaving here with only half of the things on my shopping list. I'll see you soon." I hung up and gave a deep sigh. My grandma was going to be pissed that I came home without the bread and cheese she needed, but friendship called!

With that, I quickly made my way to the counter. This moment I made my mistake-no! This wasn't a mistake. Shirking my duties as a faithful granddaughter to go see what my best friend slash brother figure needed was the first step I took to creating a happy life for myself.

…

Half an hour later, I stood in front of Claude's house in the pouring rain, which was odd since we lived in the desert, because it was the fact it was raining in the desert. Though I had an umbrella, I was still getting wet since the wind carried the droplets sideways. I kept my satchel, the one holding my cat Flora, on the other side to keep her, my papers, and electronics dry.

"I'm coming!" he hollered from the other side of the door. The door gets yanked open, and I get pulled in. He dragged me all the way to his room, not letting me as what he was doing. He sat me down on the floor and then bolted from the room.

I wasn't going to ask at this point. I just leaned back on my palms and took in the appearance of his overly trashed room. He had anime posters on every wall. There was hardly any sky blue paint showing between his posters. His bookshelf had several knicknacks and action figures. Several were women in very risqué positions.

Aside from the garbage, clothing, and cans scattered around his room, he also had a few manga books and magazines scattered around.

I was Claude's friend, but I had my own life. We bonded over schoolwork and the love of music. He had his friends that he spent time talking about and watching anime with.

I may have been an anime freak if I had met Claude before my accident. I wouldn't have focused my time on relearning how to play certain instruments and working on various art projects.

Finally, as I started to feel chills go down my spine after inspecting a book about large naked people eating small, angry, German people, Claude comes back in with spray paint and a few bottles of suspicious looking liquid.

"Claude…"

"Just give me a few minutes, Esther. I promise you will appreciate this. Just pull out those drawings I had you do. Get the one of your character and the one that is supposed to be me.

Claude started to spray the black paint in a large circle on his floor. I was going to have to make sure to be gone before his mom came home to see what he had done. In the meantime, I did as he asked and took out the six characters I designed and printed out.

Claude sist in front of me and ruffles through the papers until he finds mine and his. "Alright, Esther. This is you."

It was easy to tell the lady printed on the white paper was me. I mean even if someone else had drawn it, and this was the first time I had seen it, I would know right away that she was me. She had the same long black hair, blue eyes, and winning smile only Claude had ever seen.

"So I want to tell you a little about your character," he began. "She is you and you keep your name, but there are some really cool things about her.

I smirked, "Oh do grace me with this knowledge, oh crazy one."

He gave a glare, silently warning me to be quiet.

"I'll give you the short of everything since I want to start as soon as I can. You will be a ninja whose chakra is based on the element fire. And see here," he points to the shining gauntlet on my character's left hand. "That is because, like you, she can't use her left hand very well."

It hurt to think about my past injuries. It brought up all the anger and sadness I felt when I found out I would never play piano again-when I found out that anything requiring both hands or the use of dextrous fingers was pretty off limits.

"Even though you can't move your fingers very well, the design of the gauntlet, since it goes up to your shoulder, will protect your whole arm, and since your hand will be in a resting position, the natural curves of the blades will be just fine. So when you would be swiping at other ninjas, you won't have to put much effort into it."

It was nice that he thought to make sure I was able to use my hand for something more than decoration, but if he wanted me to be useful… I could have drawn her using her hand…

"Just do what you need. Whatever crazy journey you are dragging me on, I'll have to pack for. I won't let this end up like the desert escapade of last year."

I humored him, hoping this was just some kind of very in character dungeons and dragons.

So, I wandered around his room, thinking of anything I would need for our 'journey'. I snagged three decks of cards from under Claude's bed, his camera and three SD cards from his desk, an etch-a-sketch, a small telescope from his window ledge, a small box speaker and an aux cord for my phone. Lastly, I steal his universal charging block and a solar battery so I could keep my phone charged no matter where we ended up. My phone goes in the satchel, and Flora takes the spot on top, carefully getting comfy on top of everything else.

I sat back down while he was finished affixing his bottles of mystery liquids around the intricate spray paint circle on the ground. The circle was really more of a pentagram, but I wasn't going to ask the man of Catholic descent why he was spraying demonic circles in his room.

While he was busy, I looked at the other character files. My favorite was a female ninja I had drawn up for him. She was a water user, or something like that. I wasn't really paying attention when he first asked me to draw her. I quickly looked over at his paper that was face down over mine in the middle of the pentagram.

An evil grin crossed my face as I switched his paper with the one in my hand, tucking all of the character pictures away so he wouldn't see what i had done until we were playing this game of his. Whatever game this was that involved frantically calling me over and defacing his carpet, switching the papers would just slow him down and maybe show him to be more careful he tries to play dungeons and dragons or summon demons.

Claude was none the wiser as he sat down across from me on the opposite side of the papers. He lit a black candle that smelled like cherries. I could only guess that he got it from his mom's room. This boy was going to be in a lot of trouble if she found out.

He took hold of my hands and closed his eyes. I followed in suit, first giving a cautionary glance to the satchel on the floor beside me with the strap over my shoulder, hoping Flora would be alright in that bag a little longer. Oh who am I kidding? She was probably sleeping comfortably without a care in the world.

Claude began to speak suddenly, "Med et referansekorps, byder jeg pa dette universets større krefter for a bringe meg gjennom tid og rom til det fantasiereland jeg lengter etter. Ta med meg til landet av ninja! Forbind oss til vare karosserier slik at vi kan begynne et nytt liv i en verden allerede for var storhet."

Lightning struck and the house rattled. I could feel the electricity deep within my chest. Though my eyes were closed, I felt the world fading around me, and my thoughts began to deteriorate. The last thing I felt was my hands slip from Claude's as my cheek met the ground.

My entire being was in darkness. I had no clue what awaited me and how my life would change forever.

…

My head was spinning even before I opened my eyes. A light breeze drifted across my skin. Claude's mom must have opened the window in his room. Birds chirped nearby somewhere and my side was uncomfortably warm, hot even.

When I finally forced my eyes open, I noticed the blue sky above me and the tall, lush grass around me. The breeze was refreshing, and the air was cool, like mountain air you only see in movies or foreign countries.

I sat up quickly, threading the fingers of my right hand through my hair to try to keep the world from spinning.

"Oh man, stop this damn coaster; I want to get off." I gave a small, dry laugh at my poor attempt at humor.

I looked to see my satchel sitting a few feet away in a bunch of pressed grass. It looked like I was originally over there but had been rolling around a lot while I slept. Next, I looked down at myself to see I wasn't wearing the coat, jeans and street shoes I had gone to Claude's in.

I wore knee-high, rounded-toe boots, small,tight-fitting short shorts, and bandages binding my chest. The boots were very comfortable and I found myself wondering why I had never considered them as a wardrobe item until just now.

The shorts, though revealing, were made of a nice material and fit well. The bandages on my chest were snug and went over my right shoulder, seeming to be there to keep the bandages from loosening and unraveling.

My change of clothes was the first real red flag. I didn't quite care about my surroundings, though it was a little odd that the grass was tall and green, since I lived in a desert where grass was a luxury only the wealthy or hardworking could afford. Having a change of scenery meant that I had gone somewhere. Having different clothes, and ones so revealing at that, meant someone had to touch me to change them.

I fisted my right hand at the thought. I finally noticed that it was wrapped in thin bandages from the middle of my upper arm, all the way down to cover my fingertips.

I looked to my left with wide eyes. I had on a gauntlet of sorts. It was half leather, having leather covering my hand to my elbow with the sleek and shiny metal on the outside but not the inside. Each finger had a three-inch claw blade. They were slightly curved to keep up the natural shape meant for a resting hand. My left hand _was_ a resting hand…

The gauntlet went all the way up my arm to protect even my shoulder with nicely jointed plates for maximum movability. There were buckles at the wrist, elbow and at the shoulder where black leather straps wrapped across my chest and over my other shoulder to keep the shoulder piece in place.

It was truly wonderful and well-crafted armor. I recalled drawing a piece like this, and the drawn picture really did it no justice. The sun shone off of it brightly, and I believed it would have looked even more beautiful in the moonlight.

The blades were elegant yet deadly. I carefully touched the pointer finger blade with my right pointer. A droplet of blood oozed out and ran down the blade. It was much sharper than it looked.

I decided sitting around wasn't going to do any good, so I stood up to have a look around. I was in a small clearing of waist-high grass in the middle of a forested area.

"Well, Toto, we're not in Kansas any… Oh God! Flora!"

I reached down to my satchel, remembering my poor cat stuck in there. She poked her head out as soon as I unbuckled it. I grabbed her by the scruff and held her too me, hugging her and making sure she was really all right.

Carefully, using my clawed hand, I reached to hold her up with both hands. I looked up at her with a smile and relief in my chest.

"Oh Flora," I breathed, "I'm so glad that you're alright."

She gave a feline smile. It was nice to know she seemed to understand the way I felt most of the time.

"Despite being dropped while I was in that damn bag, I am doing quite well, Esther."

My heart skipped a beat, or several, and all I could do was stare up at my feline friend. No words came from my slightly agape mouth, though I knew there was something I should have said.

Flora looked just as surprised as I did.

And, as any normal person would do with a cat that talked to them, I launched her over my shoulder, grabbed my satchel, and ran for dear life, screaming bloody murder.

Branches slapped my arms, and roots tried to trip me as I ran. I had no idea where I was since evergreens and mountain flowers really were for mountainous places.

I hadn't been running long, maybe only fifteen minutes. My lungs burned, my legs ached, and my heart felt like it was going to burst.

I stopped and sat at the base of a large pine tree, leaning against the trunk and trying to catch my breath while willing my legs to stop aching.

A stick snapped somewhere to my left. A woman with short chestnut brown hair and just as little clothing as me stepped out of some bushes holding the norwegian forest cat I called Flora under her arm.

I could have sworn I'd seen her somewhere before, but I couldn't recall where.

The woman sighed and spoke in a rich and even voice, "Settle down now, Esther. Everything will be fine.

She knew my name, which seemed to confirm my suspicions that I had met her before, or at least we had both seen each other and she found out what my name was.

"I'll explain everything, but I need you to work with me here." She took a few steps towards me.

I tried to speak, but only managed, "H-wu-who…" I pressed myself further into the tree. Finally gaining my voice, I spoke, "Who are you?"

The woman frowned suddenly, as if my question had really upset her. Maybe I had met her before, so she expected me to remember her.

"Esther," the woman facepalmed and set Flora down. "Esther, it's me. I'm Claude."

This woman… She couldn't be Claude. She couldn't be for the most obvious reason. Claude was a man! He was athletic and nearly six feet. This woman was at least six inches shorter, reaching about five feet, five inches like me.

"You switched my paper, Esther."

I did switch his paper. Did that mean I somehow turned him into a woman?

"What's going on here?" I questioned as my heart lurched and tears welled in the corners of my eyes. "I'm so confused and I don't know what's going on." My voice cracked at the end, and tears slid down my cheeks. "I just don't understand."

Claude, the woman, walked over and knelt in front of me. She took my hands in her soft and seemingly newly manicured ones. She spoke softly, "Esther, we aren't in California anymore. We aren't even in the US anymore."

I shook my head slowly in disbelief, "You took me out of country? Claude… I don't have a passport… What am I going to do? Why would you do this?"

"Esther, just be quiet for a few minutes. We aren't even in our world anymore. I don't know exactly where on a map we are, but I know which world we are in.

"Why?"

Her caramel colored eyes softened, "I couldn't leave you behind. I couldn't continue in our world. I always hated the idea of leaving you to go to Alaska-to go to college on borrowed money to learn something that would have locked me into a career I may have hated." Claude squeezed my hands lightly and smiled. "I'd rather spend my life here with you. You're my best friend, and in our world, people always thought we were related. Here, nobody will know us. We can be family. You will be my sister, and it will be wonderful."

"Claude… Where are we?"

She grins and stands, holding out her arms. "Where are we? We're in the world of ninjas. We are in a world from a manga and anime called Naruto. Esther, we can start out lives here any way we want. We can be anything."

"And… you're okay with being a woman?" I felt bad about what I had done. This was his dream, and I messed it up.

"Yeah. This means even more of a fresh start for me. I'll go by Claudia. It's really no different than my old name. You can still call me Claude, if you want, but I'll tell everyone else I'm Claudia."

"And Flora?" I looked past him to the white and gray norwegian forest cat.

"She gained sentience and speech. She's kind of like a ninja cat, which is a thing in this world." Claude was excited, that was for sure. He also knew his stuff.

I felt bad about freaking out before. I crawl over to Flora and take her into a hug, crying softly. "Oh Flora… I can't believe I did that. I'm so sorry, my sweet kitty. You're not hurt, right?"

"Ah," Flora chuckled, "to be a bit cliché, a cat always lands on her feet. I am just fine."

I sat holding Flora and looking around at my surroundings. We weren't in our world anymore. It scared me. I knew every street in town. I could walk to Claude's blindfolded. This place was completely unknown to me, and right now, we were all lost.

I sighed and turned to Claude, "What do we do now, bro?"

"We're going to train like there is no tomorrow. Endurance, strength, stealth. When we have trained you enough that you can even control chakra well, we will find a village and go from there."

My resolve cemented right then. I stood abruptly, and I spoke with concrete conviction, "I think I like that plan. I'll be a good student and train harder than ever. I'll make sure I'm not useless to you. My left hand won't hold me back. This gauntlet will make me the best ninja there ever was. Oh! Uh… right behind you, that is."

Claude smiles and puts his arm around my shoulders. "Esther, we're going to make a name for ourselves. We're going to be the best ninja team ever. We'll be even better than the guys from Konoha and the Akatsuki."

I had no idea who he (she?) was talking about at the time. All I knew was that this new start with Claude by my side and Flora in my arms. It was both a blessing and a curse.

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Look forward to the next chapter! Thank you and please tell me what you think. Canon characters appear next episode!


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